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The former branch of al-Qaeda in Syria, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), claimed on May 19 that the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) had targeted its members in the northern Lattakia countryside with munitions armed with what it claimed to be “chlorine gas.”
“The militia of the criminal regime … targeted the Al-Murabitin’s [Islamic term for fighters] positions on the hill of Kabani with three missiles loaded with poisonous chlorine, after a failed attempt to advance on the same axis,” the terrorist group’s news network, Iba’a, said in a press release.
HTS went on to say that nobody was killed or even injured in the supposed chlorine gas attack, without explaining how any human can survive such a toxic material without any damage.
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is currently carrying out a military operation in the northern Lattakia countryside, with the aim of capturing the strategic town of Kabani. Terrorist groups, including HTS, are occupying the town and launching rockets from it on the Russian Hmeimim airbase.
In the last three days, the SAA killed dozens of HTS fighters in northern Lattakia and destroyed most of the group’s defenses south of Kabani. The terrorist group may have come up with the chemical attack claims in order to justify its loses.
The Ministry of Defense of Russia had warned that HTS possesses chemical weapons, including chlorine, and would use them to stage attacks. The most recent warning was issued two days ago.
